Publishing | Industry veteran Jim “Ski” Sokolowski, who was let go in October as Marvel’s chief operating officer ahead of a round of layoffs, has been hired by Archie Comics as senior vice president-sales and business development. The publisher also promoted Harold Buchholz from executive director of publishing and operations to senior vice president-publishing and operations, Paul Kaminski from editor to executive director of editorial, and Alex Segura from executive director of publicity and marketing to vice president-publicity and marketing. [Archie Comics]

Stan Lee

Comics | Stan Lee recalls the creation of Spider-Man in an article highlighting the 50th anniversary of the Marvel superhero. [New York Daily News]

Creators | Director Patrick Meaney talks about Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts, a documentary on the life and work of Warren Ellis. [USA Today]

Creators | Matt Fraction discusses the next arc of Iron Man, which kicks off in September’s The Invincible Iron Man #521. Titled “The Future,” the arc features Tony Stark going to war with the Mandarin. “Building to this ultimate Tony/Mandarin war, this kind-of third iteration of Armor Wars, was always the destination. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and it’s a lot of fun to play the finale of this long game of chess between the two.” [iFanboy]

Creators | Writer Jamie S. Rich and artist Mike Norton discuss their plans for the new Image series It Girl & The Atomics. Here’s Rich: “As far as It Girl is concerned, I am always attracted to characters that are learning and growing. I see this series as her chance to really come into her own as an international adventurer. I want these to be good-time comics with a strong lead who gets better at what she does and more confident with each new mission. If she suffers setbacks, she learns from them.” [Newsarama]

DMZ #70

Creators | Justin Giampoli talks to Brian Wood about the final volume of DMZ, “The Five Nations of New York.” [Live from the DMZ]

Creators | Most comics aren’t actually comic, in the sense of being funny, anymore, and Matt D. Wilson asks a number of creators of comics that are funny to weigh in on why that is. Roger Langridge, Jim Rugg and Jeff Parker are among those who have something to say on the topic. [Comics Alliance]

Commentary | Tom Spurgeon reviews Journalism, Joe Sacco’s new release: “I want to recommend Journalism because I had more fun reading this book than the supposedly fun comics I’ve read recently, and found it more exciting than the comics I’m reading that are supposed to provide thrill after thrill. I’d like to suggest that you read Journalism as a comic book.” Meanwhile, at Spandexless, David Anderson digs into another Sacco comic, War’s End. [The Comics Reporter]

Commentary | David Brothers offers an analysis of the back-up story in Prophet #26 by Emma Ríos. [ComicsAlliance]

mvdc

cich

@Darth Tigris
Morrison is a magician, not a cult leader. A MAGICIAN! Like Gandalf, dude!

@mvdc
Most of the money is for the hotel. They stay there for two days, get a breakfast and a dinner.
I don’t have $500 to spend for that, but if some people have let them. It’s not like they’re murdering kitties and beating the elderly. There’s nothing shameful in having a holiday in Las Vegas with some comicbook writers and artists.

BradRz

The price of Morrisoncon makes sense, when you factor in that it includes two nights in the Hard Rock Hotel, guaranteed one-on-one access to people like Morrison, Jim Lee, and Robert Kirkman, plus sketches and autographs from people like Lee, J.H. Williams, etc. It’s really not much more than you’d pay for tickets, travel, and hotel to San Diego or DragonCon, and probably comes out about the same when you add in the price for sketches, autographs, and merch at a bigger show. At prior conventions, I’ve never even managed to get through the line for Lee, much less get a sketch from him. Cut out the con entirely, and it’s still about the same that many out-of-towners would pay for a standard weekend of partying in Vegas. I’m not trying to sound like an ad for this con, but when you break it down, the pricing makes sense.

mvdc

JK: I didn’t know one way or the other if it included Hard Rock Hotel stay. Either way…

Roberto: I agree. His recent DC stuff is a mess and he’s getting away with telling stories that don’t involve any sense of continuity. Oh well, all the fanboys eat up his crap like it’s wrapped in gold. Some of us know better and know that he’s on a high horse and needs to get knocked down a peg.

Like when he swore off DC comics forever because Warner Brothers ripped him off when they made the Matrix movie and he claimed they swiped his ideas from the Invisibles. Yeah, never going to work at DC again, huh?